Escape
by Audio Pineapple
Summary: Shawn runs away from the centre. Can he survive by himself? Can the centre survive without him? [Set before Graduation Day.]
1. I Can't Do This Anymore

**Time-Line Setting: **Set during season three, after the death of Lily but before Graduation Day.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters. I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with anyone who does.

Half six in the morning was far too early to wake up. It was what Shawn had thought when he was younger and, despite being older, he still thought the same. He let his alarm ring for a minute before he got tired of the high-pitched wailing and slammed his hand down on top of the machine.

He groaned, getting up out of bed and stretching, his muscles still worn out from a hectic day before, when he hadn't even made it to his room until half ten and had crashed soon after. It was going to be the same thing today; he was going to have to put up with the same boring routine.

When he'd first arrived at the centre it had been something special, everything was bright and new and whenever something happened it was something that had never happened before. Sometimes he wondered if it still looked that way to other people, to visitors or clients. Quite often he found himself wishing for the old days when Jordan would boss him around and he'd complain about it. Because, even when he was that high up in the organisation, things still changed often enough to peak his interest.

Now, however, every day was identical to the next one. It was a non-stop barrage of attending meetings, trying to avoid Matthew, dealing with the press, a routine that was only punctured by the occasional healing.

Which was why he had been so ecstatic to meet Isabelle, she was a breath of fresh air when he needed it the most, she was wild, untamed; unpredictable and everything that he wished he could afford to be. But, soon enough she became stagnant in his mind. And she became part of his daily chores of having to talk to Isabelle, having to avoid Isabelle, having to placate Isabelle's fears of losing him.

He shook his head at the thought and went over to his closet, opening it to find something to wear. Despite being of different colours, all his clothes were practically identical. All seemed to have been carefully chosen to squander Shawn's personality, to turn him into a business man when all he wanted to be was an ordinary person.

He got dressed and found himself sitting on the floor, slumped against a wall. He closed his eyes, almost giving in to the desire to sleep but settled for trying to relax instead. Before he knew it he was in his favourite day dream, the one where the centre was attacked. It solved both of his problems; it would make things exciting and, if lucky, it would destroy the centre, free him.

His eyes opened and focused on the clock, ten to seven, he'd been fantasying for too long and he was running late. He forced himself up, a hand placed onto his head and looked towards the door.

He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't face another day of the suffocating monotony that was rapidly crushing his spirit. He couldn't do it again.

He thrust open the door of his closet and pulled out a bag, a few outfits. He threw some money inside and slung it over his shoulder. He was about to head out of the door but paused, leaving a hand-written note behind.

He walked out into the centre, nodding curtly at the few people who were already there. His pulse was racing, wondering if they would notice what was happening, if they would try to stop him. He smiled to himself, realising that it was the most fun he'd had in months. With one last look behind him, he walked out the doors.

* * *

Matthew knocked on the door to Shawn's room before opening it of his own accord to find it empty. He felt confused for a moment; Shawn hadn't been anywhere else in the centre so he had assumed that he would have been hiding there. His eyes fell onto the note left behind and he picked it up, reading it:

_I can't do this anymore, I have to leave. Now. I'm sorry for any distress that I have caused and I leave the centre, and everything associated with it in the care of Richard Tyler._

_Shawn._

Matthew started at the note for a moment before a smile crept across his face. His plan was working; everything was finally starting to fall into place.

**A/N: **Please Review.


	2. What do you mean, Shawn is missing?

"What do you mean, Shawn is missing?" Richard Tyler was usually well regarded because of his ability to remain calm in a crisis but this was more of a crisis than he had become used to since his return. His voice had risen in both pitch and tone and he was staring at the blank face of Matthew.

"I went to find him in his room this morning and I found a note instead. It said that he couldn't do this anymore…"

"Couldn't do what?"

"Run the centre I'm assuming. You have to remember Richard that Shawn was just a child… Jordan made a mistake putting him in charge in the first place; he was never going to be able to cope."

"So what do we do now?

"We can't shut down the centre, the community needs it, and the 4400 need it. We're just going to have to carry on without him."

"Without Shawn?" Richard was worried now for two reasons; firstly that the centre would fall into disrepair without Shawn as the figurehead, but his main concern was that Isabelle was going to take this badly. Despite his objections, she seemed to love Shawn and he didn't want to upset her.

"Yes, without Shawn. In the note he said that he was leaving me in charge of the centre and I'll do my best to keep up the support for the 4400. Of course you will still have your job here."

Richard nodded; at least his job was still secure. Lily would have wanted him to continue working there, she loved that she had been making a positive difference in the world and he was going to continue that.

* * *

Shawn smiled as he stepped off the bus into the centre of the small town. He had a break before the next bus came, on which he would continue his journey. He had taken a while to decide where he was running to, but in the end, New York had seemed an adequate option. There were enough people there that he might be able to get lost in a crowd and there would be enough things to do, enough opportunities to become a proper teenager.

Nobody had recognised him on the bus but he hadn't been drawing attention to himself. Sitting hunched up against one of the windows he didn't look like anything special.

He heard a screech behind him and he stood up, spinning around to locate the noise. There was a boy, around ten years old lying on the dusty ground, his eyes closed, body lying perfectly still. Instinctively Shawn rushed around to him, kneeling down and listening for breathing before realising that there was none. His instincts kicking in he placed his hands onto the child's chest, feeling the power flooding through him. The child's eyes shot open and sat up, coughing up a large sweet that had obviously become lodged in his throat.

Shawn sighed with relief before hearing something he had been trying to avoid at all costs, "you're Shawn Farrell!" He raised his head and saw a woman reaching down to hug boy, clutching him against her. "You saved my son!"

He would have asked her to be quiet, that it was a secret but he couldn't. There was no chance that it would work because over a dozen people had been summoned by the scream, including most of the bus passengers. They looked down at him and he stood up slowly before nodding curtly at the mother and sitting back down in the shelter, trying to block out the whispers behind him.

As the bus for the next leg of his journey pulled past he was the last person to get on, aware that everybody was staring at him. He took the most isolated seat he could find. It had taken him until everyone was boarded to decide whether to get on. On one hand he was in more danger of word leaking back to the centre, of Matthew knowing to look for him in New York but eventually he had decided that it was a big enough place; even if Matthew knew he was there he might not be able to find him.

He curled back up into his ball and stared gloomily out of the window, his plan wasn't working so far.


	3. Chapter 3

Shawn had been on the bus for only ten minutes after setting off when he heard someone moving about. He didn't think much about it until they slid into the seat behind him and he felt his stomach clench.

"Hey," a woman, not that old. Shawn tucked himself further into his cacoon, hoping that she would give up and move away again. "Hey?"

He decided to look at her, and he lifted his head, turning it around. She had creamy yellow skin, dyed red hair, vibrant in a bob style and pale brown eyes. "I'm trying to sleep." He hoped that the lie would fool her but his hopes were dashed a second later.

"I'm Alison."

"Okay."

"You're Shawn right, Shawn Ferrell?"

"Yeah."

"That 4400 guy?"

"Yeah, that 4400 guy."

"Cool, so why are you going to New York Shawn?"

Her questions were starting to get to him. He wondered for a moment why he couldn't tell her the truth. He'd left a note back at the centre which meant that soon everyone would know. It still seemed personal to him though, and he didn't want to be in a confined space with someone who knew that he had been unable to cope, especially when there was two more hours until the next break.

"Going to see someone."

"Who?" Alison had folded her arms on the top of the chair next to him, her chin resting in them to get a better view of him.

"A guy."

She giggled, "don't I even get a name?"

Time for a change of tactic. He looked in front of him again, trying to show that he wanted distance without actually saying so. He wasn't used to saying what he wanted anymore; not since Jordan died, so he decided that his best bet was in not-so-subtle hints. "Why are you going to New York then?"

"I'm going to be a top model!"

_She'd never make it. She was pretty but not stunning, and she wasn't rail thin. _Shawn smiled at his own thoughts.

"Just kidding!" She laughed again, "I'd never make it as a model. What do you think I am? An idiot? I'm going to the big NY to meet someone."

"Don't I even get a name?" He said it sarcastically, trying to make his voice sound as annoying as possible.

"Michael Kenterton. There, you got your name, do I get mine?"

"Just leave me alone." He was surprised he had been able to say it, but the relief he felt was brief, before she started to talk again.

"Why you want to be left alone?"

"Look!" He turned around again and noticed a few of the other passangers staring at him after raising his voice. He lowered it again, "you didn't bother me before the last stop so why are you bothering me now?"

"I was just talking." She had obviously been upset by his response and that suited him fine. Well, it suited him well enough, he was feeling guilty about it, he found it hard to deal with knowing he had made someone upset.

The bus continued in silence for half an hour before he heard Alison cough. "So… why did you leave the centre? You going back or not?"

"Just leave me alone."

"It's a simple enough question… I was just wondering what you were doing."

"Please… please just leave me alone."

"I was just wondering."

He couldn't keep quiet anymore, his felt like he was loosing control over his own voice as he shouted at her. "I'm not going back because I'm so pathetic that I can't deal with it! I'm running away to New York because there is a greater chance that nobody will ever find me there ever again and I won't have to be Shawn-Fucking-Farrell anymore! Understand yet?"

Every single passenger was staring at him now, they all knew and chances are they would all talk to the tabloids about it the moment they got the chance to. He was rewarded though, Alison stood up, moving to a seat away from him, an upset look on her face. At least there was a silver lining.

Richard looked at Isabelle, he'd tried to work out the gentlest way to say it to her but he hadn't come up with any option apart from the blunt truth and he was afraid how she would react.

"Isabelle… Shawn's run away."


	4. Chapter 4

Isabelle looked at Richard, barely believing him. Why would Shawn run away from her? Wasn't she his everything? The thought that Matthew may have caused him to leave fluttered through her mind before she discarded it. Matthew appeared to approve of her grand plans. Plus he was too scared to disobey her. If she was going to destroy the 4400 she was going to do it her way. Although she had wanted to do it with Shawn by her side.

She could sense that her father was worried and she shot him a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine daddy. I'm sure he'll come home soon. He just needs a break. I have to go do something now."

She walked away, moving through the centre until she came across Matthew. She slammed the door shut, liking the look of fear upon his face.

"Why has Shawn left?"

"I don't know. He left a note saying that he couldn't cope with it anymore and he just left."

"When are you going to get him back?"

"I'm not going to get him back Isabelle, he's gone."

"Well I want him back!" She didn't care that she was raising her voice. "I want you to go and find him now!"

"It… isn't that simple. It's a big world Isabelle and he could be anywhere."

"Well then I'll go and find him. And you'll have to find someone else to do your plan with. Oh wait, you can't do."

The smugness faded away from Matthew, replaced by a begrudging acceptance. "I'll see what I can do."

"Good." She opened the door quietly, striding out, knowing that she had won. Shawn would be back by her side again soon, and this time she wasn't going to let him go.

After his outburst Shawn had been left alone by the rest of the passengers. He still felt a bit guilty about how he had treated Alison when she had just been trying to talk to him and he was still having trouble pushing these feelings aside. He tried telling himself that there was nothing else he could have done but he knew that it was a lie, if he had tried harder he probably could have got rid of her an easier way.

Uncurling himself he grabbed his bag and stood up, surveying the bus to find her. She was sitting by herself now, reading a fashion magazine, bag on the seat beside her. He sat on the seat behind her and coughed to get her attention. She tore her eyes away from her magazine to look at him.

"Shawn? Huh… thought you wouldn't come around these parts again. Sure you don't want me to leave you alone?"

"No…"

"Because I was actually in this portion of the bus first and you might be a big super-star but that doesn't give you the right to tell people where they can sit."

"I know," his mind was focused on a different part of the sentence, "big super-star?"

"Yeah, of course. You're the main 4400, the one that everyone recognises. The one with the easy life."

He scoffed, that was ridiculous. He would have bet a lot of money that she wasn't able to spend a week doing what he had had to do. Being manipulated and pushed around, being stuck in a meaningless relationship and not having anyone to talk to.

"Oh come on, you get to buy whatever you want, whenever you want it. You have people to do whatever you want, whenever you want it, you live in this giant apartment…"

"Yeah, and being manipulated into doing whatever people want, whenever they want it is great fun. And this is about the most in depth conversation I've had since I was abducted."

She smiled, apparently conceding defeat. "So what are you going to do when you get to New York?"

"Don't know. I have a bit of money, probably find some place to rent, hide out for a while, and get a job. You know, just be normal." They lapsed into an uncomfortable sentence again and Shawn wondered if she was waiting for him to continue. Not being able to think of anything else to say, and wondering if he should have come up with more of a plan before he had run, he decided to copy her again. "How about you?"

"My cousin got me a job; I'm going to be staying at my Aunt's for a while. She's a 4400 as well; technically she's only five years older than me now so it's a bit strange."

"Yeah, I suppose it will be." Fear was coursing through Shawn's body, what if her Aunt was a member of the Nova group? What if this had all been an elaborate plot to kill him. He was about to make an excuse and leave when he heard someone above him.

"Hello? Mr Farrell?" He looked up to see the mother of the boy he had saved at the station smiling at him. "Ryan wanted to give this to you…" She tapped the boy on the shoulder, making him move forward, a sullen look on his face.

"She made me do it." He handed Shawn a folded up piece of paper, a card with the words 'thank you Shawn' scrawled across it. Shawn looked back at them, Ryan was embarrassed, obviously wanting to get out of the situation but the mother was beaming. His training kicked in as he tried to come up with a way to please them both.

"Thank you. It looks… very… cool."

The mother herded Ryan away back to their seats and Shawn put the card into his bag. Embarrassing as the situation had been, he was still happy to have the card. It reminded him that he had been abducted for a reason. No matter how screwed up the rest of his life became, he was still able to save people.

"So Shawn… you wanna meet my Aunt?"


End file.
